EU Timber Regulations Affecting the Greeting Card Industry

EU Timber Regulations set to affect imports of giftwrap and tags, paper giftbags and boxes

This applies to publishers bringing giftwrap and tags, gift bags and boxes into the EU. Greeting cards with their envelopes are not affected.

As of March 3rd this year, a new EU Timber Regulation will make it illegal to place illegally harvested timber and timber products on the EU market. The legislation requires that due diligence is applied to most timber products.

While greeting cards (code 49, sold with or without envelopes) are exempt, giftwrap and tags, gift bags and paper gift boxes (code 48) are affected.

If you are sourcing these other products you will be responsible for ensuring that your supplier has provable chain of custody and can prove that it originally comes from legally forested timber.

Chain of Custody (CoC) means that you can trace the ownership of the wood/pulp/paper/product from forest to end-user.

If the products already have PEFC or Forest Stewardship Council certification, no further action is needed. If they are not, you will need to make sure that your supplier has carried out the due diligence.